Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rise of the Dark Mercenary
by CGN Director K.W
Summary: The Clone Wars has begun. The Republic and Jedi Order are at war with the Separatist Alliance and the Sith, and the galaxy is in chaos. During the years of the war, a young man with unimaginable powers and abilities will take a stand of what is true as he, along with other heroes, fight for peace across the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Top of the morning to you ladies and gents', my name is Director K.W., and welcome to a whole brand new series! Yes, it is I, back after over 4 years of no activity on this site. Well, the only explanation I can give is life that gets in the way. I've had a lot of transitions of personal life stuff that required a lot of my attention, which only gave me so little writing to do over the years. But now, I can finally say that I am back and with a whole brand new crew to back me up on this new series that we wish to share with you all. So, rather than being just myself, I am now part of CGN (Cinematic Gaming Nerds) that includes myself, Galoctapon and Jet the Blue Sky. Together, we have all been working hard on creating an entire Star Wars series that have been in the talks for over 6 years now, perhaps even longer lol. So we hope you enjoy what we have to offer you all in this series.**

 **This series takes place in, as you can see, The Clone Wars Era. In fact, it all begins at the start of the Clone Wars, first day of the war. It's definitely different from what you all may or just have read, or perhaps some of you have seen or read others like this before. But in all, this is a series that we will be continuing for a very long time, so again, we really hope you will all enjoy what we have to offer you.**

 **That will do it for now, so thank you all of you who wish or are preparing to read this new series of ours, and as always, we hope you will all have a fan-tucking-tastic day/night! See ya' in the next one.**

 **\- Director K.W. & CGN Crew**

* * *

A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

 **STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS:** **RISE OF THE DARK MERCENARY**

* * *

 _Planet: Geonosis_

 _Location: Orbit_

 _Date: 22 BBY_

 _Time Lapse: First Day of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the start of the Clone Wars_

* * *

Amongst the asteroid belt of the terrestrial, barren and rocky planet known as Geonosis, three short, triangular shaped Acclamator star cruisers had recently appeared from one of the hyperspace lanes and have stationed themselves outside the belt, awaiting for the signal of the battle that would soon commence below the planet's surface.

Inside the _Ne'-Cross_ Acclamator-class cruiser, the main leading triangular star ship out of the three, a young, black haired seventeen year old Padawan stared and glazed through the many asteroids that orbited around the planet before him. He wore a traditional brown robe that covered his grey tunic underneath it, followed by a pair of long, baggy brown pants that ended tucked away within the confines of his black boots. He wasn't intentionally focused on the giant rocks or field belt that were all either twirling or swaying about, however. It seemed his attention was somewhere else, where his mind pondered very hard to somewhere else. But as his mind was focused on whatever he was thinking about, he didn't even sense the presence of another figure beside him appear, a long black shadow that created a faint dark smog around him.

"So, I guess this is really it, huh Kydan?"

The deep, hazy voice was loud enough to snap himself back into reality as he looked over his left shoulder to find the black figure standing next to him, gazing at him with rose red-budded colored eyes. The young padawan, Kydan Witress, gave an uncertain and sad smile to the figure.

"Yeah it is...," he replied back, a sigh escaping his lips. He turned his attention back to the large, black opened vast of space before him. "I just can't believe this is really happening. I thought I was prepared for this. But now...now I don't think I'm ready to fight in a war. Sure, I have fought in many small battles in the past during my missions, but I never fought in a war before. I have no clue on how to act in a war. I have no skill, I don't..."

Kydan closed his eyes, the thoughts that occupied in his mind began to surface as he gave a hesitant answer once more. "...I-I don't know Dark, maybe I'm just speaking this out of proportion. Not really sure."

"Yeah, maybe your right," the black figure, Dark, said to the confused padawan. His eyes lowered a bit and his mind went into one of contemplation, then looked back to Kydan with his red colored eyes as they gave a sympathetic look to them. "You might just be saying that...but your not the only one who thinks that. I can sense the vast, majority of other young, Jedi padawans and knights feeling the same way as you are right now. But I know one thing for sure; we will not be alone in this fight. We will have each other backs, now to the end."

Not feeling any of the bit of worry he just had no more, Kydan gave his friend a genuine smile of certainty and approval. Dark is the only few people that he knew who can give him the confidence and advice he always needed to move forward. He couldn't think about where he would be today without him or his other friend's help. He was happy that he had them in his life, and he could never ask for better friends than them.

Kydan chuckles softly, placing his hand on Dark's shoulder in appreciation. "Yeah, you got that right Dark. We're never alone..."

"Uh, who are you speaking to?"

Gasping silently, Kydan turns around in surprise as a young, blonde pony-tail hair woman who was around his age approached him, just stopping in the same spot where Dark had just recently stood before. She gave the young man a confusing look with her eyebrow raised, her green eyes staring at him with utter curiosity. He probably thought that she was thinking of him as a complete loon or something.

"Oh, uh...no one! J-Just talking to myself Rilicia!" He lied, rubbing the back of his short, black hair with an embarrassed chuckle. Hoping that it convinced her, which appeared it did, she gave him a gentle smile and chuckled softly herself.

"Well, you know, if you keep talking to yourself, people are gonna think and treat you like a lunatic. If that happens, I don't think I can help you from that."

"U-Uh, right!"

She giggled in response, causing his heart to skip a beat from the sweet noise that he adored very much. "So, are you ready for the upcoming battle down there?"

"Yes...and no. Yeah, I'm eager to help defeat Count Dooku and his droids once and for all, but I'm still not too sure about fighting in a war just yet. I still feel like I need more training in order to do something like this."

Rlicia nods in response. "Same here. But like it or not, were gonna have to fight them, no matter what the decisions we will make."

Kydan slowly nodded in response, somewhat understanding what she was saying. Still, he felt uneasy with all of this, let alone having the Jedi Council allowing him to even be out of the Temple of all things. But before he could even reply, an older man walked up to the two young Jedi, unaware of his presence at that moment. Much like the other officers on board, he wore a long sleeved, dark button up, dark grey shirt with a red and blue rectangular shaped badge on the left side of his breast, outlined with a gold colored scheme to it. He had a short, brown, bushy style mustache with brown hair that had a dark grey officer hat concealing it. Unlike the other crew members, his badge represented him as a higher classed official among them all; the ranking of a High Captain.

"Excuse me, commanders," the older man addressed to the two Jedi. The two turned to him, gaining their full attention. "We ready to go over the mission brief?"

"Yes, Captain Wolrien, we are," Rilicia replied to the captain, strolling up to the medium sized, metal circle table that was displaying a holographic image of the planet's surface. Kydan and Captain Wolrein circled around the table as well, each one taking their perspective spots across from each other.

The three huddled around closer to it as Wolrein pulled out a data pad from his belt, immediately typing in some syllables and numbers on the screen. Clicking the last button, the data from the pad linked together with the hologram table, projecting a blue, holographic image of a large, thin pointed tower surrounded by many obstacles that were surrounding it.

Clearing his throat with a small quick cough, Wolrein begins to explain the mission brief to them. "Once you arrive on the surface of Geonosis, your mission will be the Geonosian Research Tower, proximately three clicks away from the landing point. There, you'll find your main target; a Mandalorian assassin named Alurak Eclipse. Our intelligence indicates that he's been working on new designs for the Trade Federation and ally, Count Dooku. Apparently, from one of his recent projects, they had created a brand new set of droids, the BX-series Droid Commandos; elite class battle droids that are capable to survive against most dangerous hazards. Once we have Alurak in our custody, we can try to interrogate him and possibly gain the information to shut down these new droids."

The plan sounded all well and good, but one thing still plagued Kydan's mind. His expression turned to confusion as he looked for someone else, before turning his attention to the captain. "Captain, what of our masters? Aren't they meeting us down there too?"

Wolrein looked at Kydan with a dumbfounded face, as if the answer was obvious enough. "It was under the request of the generals, actually. They requested this mission for you two under their authority."

They're leaving me alone with Rilicia, without a Jedi Master watching over me? he thought to himself. The information was surprising, yet more confusing to him. Never has the council left him alone with another person that wasn't a master, even more than someone his age. It was a set rule by the masters that he would be on watch at all times around the clock. So what was going on? Were they testing him or something? Or was there something more going on that he just didn't know yet? Just trying to wrap his head around the whole thing was giving him a headache.

Sensing his disorientation, Rilicia tried to changed the mood, her lips turning into a small confident smirk and her hand clutched into a fist. "Well, no worries captain. We'll bring in this Mandalorian!"

The mood successfully changed as Kydan playfully rolled his brown eyes at her, a small grin itching at his lips. "As confident and reckless as me, Rilicia."

A mischievous smirk plagued her own lips. "Well, my confidence and recklessness hasn't failed me yet, has it? Besides, I've learned from the best."

"That's a bad habit to have," chuckled Kydan, ever so slightly.

"Says the boy who has done the same," a playful smirk forming, her gaze staring straight at him. She could never understand why, but it was always hard for her to pull away from his gentle brown eyes of his.

"Eh-hem!"

The two slightly jumped as their conversation suddenly ceased completely, turning their heads to Wolrein. He had the look of annoyance on his face, his gaze giving off a serious one at them. Frankly, he wasn't pleased from their little conversation.

Kydan chuckled awkwardly, a weary smile plagued on his lips. "Heh...uh, sorry, captain. Please, continue."

"As I was saying," he said, cautiously staring at them with a knowing look. "Once you have captured Alurak alive, you are to set the charges inside and destroy the research tower. When you have completed your tasks, contact us as soon as you finish rounding up the remaining droid forces in the vicinity. Until the area is cleared, we won't be able to give you air or ground support for the time being. Any questions concerning the mission?

Kydan raises his hand up slowly. "Just one; what teams are we taking down to the surface?"

The captain smirked a little at the young Jedi's question. He didn't know why, but he found that what he was going to say would be a bit amusing. "Ah yes, your squadrons. Both of you will take one team each down to the surface. Commander Kydan, you'll be taking Black Moon Squadron, under the command of Sergeant Rilos. You'll find him considerably... _interesting_. And Commander Rilicia, you'll be taking White Claw Squad, under the command of Lt. Flash. Just like Sergeant Rilos, you'll find this one... _intriguing_ , to say the least."

She just rolled her eyes as Kydan snickered to her utter dismay. "Glad to know that."

"We'll be in the atmosphere in thirty-three minutes," Wolrein said, deactivating the holograms from the table in front of them. "I'll contact you both once when we are ready to make drop."

The two nodded in compliance to the captain's words as they retreated from him and the hologram table towards the elevator. They both entered the elevator and the doors closed in front of them, the shaft descending downwards below the command bridge.

"Well, this should be a lot of fun," Kydan sighed with a sarcastic tone. His nerves were reaching peek once again, the thoughts of his first mission alone drove him to feel doubt sprouting up.

Rilicia, sensing her friend's struggle, placed a delicate hand on his shoulder. Her soft smile was placed on her lips. "Hey, it'll be fine. Just remember the training that you received from the masters. Once we get to the tower, everything will be fine."

"Yeah, I guess your right," Kydan replied, a small smile beginning to form on his own lips. Seconds later, the doors to the elevator open, revealing multiple hallways where they saw dozens of soldiers and military officers walking about, continuing on with their duties. "Well, I'm gonna head down to the squad's quarters below and meet with my new squad."

"Same here. It'll be nice to get acquainted with my new troops," she said, walking out of the elevator and into the hallway. She turned around to face Kydan, a smile appearing on her face. "I'll see you later then?"

Kydan smirked and threw her a thumbs up in approval. "Definitely!"

Fifteen minutes past as Kydan strode through the cold, metallic floor, no doubt heading towards one of the clone quarters to meet and introduce himself to his new squadron.

While he paced across the hallways, his mind went back to one of his earlier questions; why did the Jedi Council allow authorization for him to be alone with only one Jedi? On top of that, a Jedi Knight that was his friend? It was very unusual for the Jedi to allow him to go freely and be command of his own team. Although he didn't mind the major change of things, he couldn't shake that something was up with all of this. He just kepting questioning himself the same thing over and over again; why? He just didn't know, couldn't even conjure up a good answer for it all.

So deep in mind with his questioning, he hadn't realized that he had reached the Black Moon Squad Quarters' door. He was a bit startled at first, but was able to keep his composure as he reached his hand to the control panel on the right, pushing the button to open the sliding doors before him. When the doors slid open with a hiss, he was immediately met with the officer himself, talking to a small hologram on his small, metal rounded device.

"Yes sir, Black Moon is prepped and ready for action," the Clone Sergeant said to the hologram. He wore a standard Phase I, white clone trooper armor. His shoulder and leg pads were both colored in black while his breastplate armor had the symbol of the moon pattern on it, also colored in black. "We are just awaiting for further orders."

 _'Very good, Sergeant Rilos,'_ the small hologram replied back to the clone sergeant. From a distance, Kydan could see that the hologram that was displaying from the clone's device was none other than Captain Wolrein, standing in an orderly fashion before Rilos, his hands placed behind his back. _'As for your new commanding officer, I placed you and your team under the command of Kydan Witress, a Jedi Padawan. I have already explained the details of the mission to both him and Commander Rilicia. He will brief you on your mission before you all reach the planet's surface.'_

"Yes sir, thank you sir," Rilos responded back to the captain, saluting to him in approval. "Sergeant Rilos, out!"

As Rilos deactivates the comm and places it back into his white, plastic pouch, Kydan enters the room where the rest of Black Moon squad were stationed in. Far as he could tell, he could see that every clone soldier in the room were all preparing themselves with the mission that was yet to come. He didn't know if it was a clone DNA thing or just part of who they really were, he could tell, though, how formal, tidy and unified each one of them were. It actually impressed him somewhat.

He walks towards the sergeant himself, who was gazing at his squad from the side. "Sergeant Rilos?"

Rilos hears his name as he turns his head around to the source, seeing the young black haired Jedi padawan walking towards him with a friendly smile. The sergeant took a saluting stance with his arms by his sides and himself facing forward his new commanding officer.

"Commander Witress! We have been expecting you sir!"

"Already? I see that word travels fast for you guys, huh?"

"Captain Wolrein had just contacted me to alert me that you were on your way here, sir."

Kydan chuckled at the sergeant's reply, "Yeah, I'll admit I was a bit nervous, but also excited, to meet with you all. And please, you don't have to be all formal on me sergeant. I kinda like it when I'm around people who act like themselves."

Rilos looked at his commander with a surprise expression, though it wouldn't have been visible to the eye since he was wearing his 'T' shaped visor helmet on. Hesitantly, the sergeant loosened up a bit as his hand reached behind his neck, rubbing it back and forth in an embarrassing and uncomfortable state.

"Yes sir, apologies sir. I-I'll make sure to remember that for now on."

He just laughed a little at the clone's dismay. "No need for apologies, Rilos. I just figured you should know that ahead of time."

"U-Uh, right sir. May I introduce you to the rest of the team?"

"Of course! I'd love to meet the others!"

Taking the lead, Rilos guides Kydan to one of the members of the team.

"Black Moon Squad is one of the mid-top, elite squads in the Clone Army," Rilos said to his commander, strolling up to one of the troopers. "We have never had difficulties with our training, nor our test assignments back on Kamino. Due to our high skills in combat training, we were ranked up as one of the many elite squads."

Kydan smirked in response to the soldier, no doubt a bit impressed and intrigued with the information given to him. " I guess now's a good time to use those training skills on the front lines."

"Couldn't agree more sir."

Approaching the first trooper, they saw that he was practicing shooting at a metal targeting stance that was being used by the clone himself, noticing that he was testing out his new weapons. The trooper finally finishes with his testing, just placing the rifle and blaster he was using down on the bench next to him. Just as he placed them down, he glanced to the side to see his sergeant and a Jedi padawan heading towards him. He stood in place, putting his hands behind him as they approached.

"Let me introduce you to Bulk; our specialist for using the DC-17 Heavy Blasters. He is specifically good with his accuracy of throwing grenades in open and closed fields, let alone tanking against the larger forces when he is loaded with his rifles."

Kydan smiled at Bulk, extended his right hand out to the trooper. "Pleasure to meet you, Bulk."

Bulk reached for his hand, firmly grasping the padawan's hand and shook it. "Pleasure is ours, Commander. Can't wait to use that training to good use on some of those scrappies."

"No worries Bulk, you'll get a chance at them soon enough," Kydan said to the trooper with a chuckle. "I'll leave you back to your business."

Bulk saluted to his commander and sergeant as he went back to sorting out everything he needed for their journey down to the planet. The two leave the clone to be as they proceed to greet the next member of the team, who they saw was pacing back and forth, grabbing and placing some interesting equipment inside his backpack.

So focused on his own work, he lacked the capacity of noticing the officers coming closer to him. When he saw them both, he somewhat jumped in surprise, accidentally dropping whatever tools and what not on the floor. He stood at attention, his one arm saluting to them both. "S-Sirs! I-I didn't you two there!"

Sergeant Rilos laughed at his brother's embarrassment, "At ease, cadet. No need to be formal."

The trooper sighed in relief, "That's a relief!" But when his words escape his mouth, he immediately regretted it. "T-T-That's not what I meant, sir, I only meant-"

Rilos began to laugh a bit harder, while Kydan just chuckled at the trooper's embarrassment. He looked to the sergeant with a smile, "I'm gonna guess that he is one of our tech specialist?"

"You've got it, sir," Rilos nodded to him, introducing the embarrassed trooper to him. "This is Scanner, our tech specialist and our best tracker. He was one of our many cadets that reached the top of the tech training classes. In fact, his commanding officers recommended him as having the best strategic plannings out of the rest, even if he does have a stammering problem."

"Really?" Kydan asked curiously, looking at Scanner with a surprised, but intrigued look.

"N-No sir, really, I-I wasn't that great in my class! I-I was just an average like the rest o-of our b-brothers on Kamino!" Scanner stammered in a hurry, waving his hands back and forth at them. He was so glad that he was wearing his helmet right now, he couldn't even dare think what his face would be looking like.

"No need to be so bashful, Scanner. We already know _all_ the details about your training," Rilos snickered, although he was honestly giving him a compliment.

"Y-Yes sir, sorry sirs," Scanner replied, his head lowered down as his embarrassment grew even more.

Kydan placed a hand on the cadet's left shoulder, causing him to look at the commander with a startled jump. "You don't have to apologize, Scanner. I'm glad to have met you, and to be part of this team."

As Kydan finished his words, Rilos gestured him to the other side of their quarters, leaving Scanner to ponder by himself. What they didn't realize was that Scanner, underneath his shiny coated, white helmet, he had a big smile on his face. Kydan's words rejuvenated him to feel better and more confident about himself. He didn't understand why, but he felt like he was going to like his new commander immediately.

Kydan and Rilos approached the second-to-last clone trooper of Black Moon Squad, who they notice was staring at the viewing window of their quarters. He seemed very calm and relaxed, not as a hurry like the others Kydan has met. In fact, resting beside his legs was his equipment, all packed and ready to go. Kydan took note that this soldier was someone who tends to finish his work quite early, no matter where or when it happens.

The soldier heard their footsteps getting closer to him, turning his head toward the source to see that his suspicions were true. He turned himself to his commanding officers, nodding his head in greeting. "Sergeant Rilos, pleasant to see you sir."

"Always a pleasure to see you, Hopper," Rilos replied with a friendly tone to his fellow brother. He grasped the trooper's hand in a handshake before turning to Kydan. "Commander, this is Hopper, our extremist for using the heavy duty DC-17 Repeater Gun. He is quite known for making and tweaking up our weapons before our training excercise back on Kamino. He's known for his... _effectiveness_ , if you catch my drift."

Hopper rolled his eyes underneath his helmet, looking at Rilos with a shrug, "Hey, if it ain't broken, why fix it? It's been pretty handy when we have all trained."

"So, in a sense, you're a weapons specialist, right?" Kydan asked him curiously.

"In a matter of speaking...yes," Hopper replied with a nod.

Kydan smiled at his fellow trooper. "Well we're glad you're here then, Hopper. Looking forward to see how much firepower you've given the team, especially with that heavy gun there."

Hopper grinned with an evil chuckle, patting his long, six barreled gun that was resting next to his backpack. "Sir, you can count on that. Just point me at the target, and I'll mow them down."

Acknowledging him with a small chuckle, the two officers leave Hopper and move on to the final crew member of the squad.

"Our last squad mate is actually our newest recruit," Rilos said, trekking through the metal floor underneath their feet. "We had our sniper specialist on our team, his name was Line-Up. He was one of the most elite snipers in his class. Unfortunately, he was transferred to another squad a few weeks before we left Kamino."

"Sorry to hear that, Sergeant."

"It happens sir," Rilos said, looking up ahead to see the new recruit placing his equipment into his backpack. Unlike the other clones in his team, the recruit's Phase I armor didn't have any black markings that indicated his team's symbol.

As they got closer to him, Kydan silently studied the trooper with a close eye. Something about this clone seemed off, but not in a bad way. It was as if something was special about this one, much more than the other clones he had met so far. He didn't exactly know why, but just the presence of this recruit made him feel calm, just like his-

"Red Scar!" Rilos called out to the trooper. Somewhat startled from his superior's call, he immediately stood at attention.

"Red Scar, reporting for duty, sirs!" He saluted to them both. "I'm guessing your our new commander, sir?"

Kydan smiled and nodded in approval, "You're right, I am. I'm Kydan Witress, your new commanding officer. Pleasure to meet you R.S."

"Uh...R.S., sir?"

Not realizing what he said, Kydan chuckled in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. "Oh, sorry about that! I thought it would easier to say rather than 'Red Scar' all the time. Sounded more fitting."

Red Scar and Rilos both looked at their commander with surprise looks, though he couldn't tell since they were wearing helmets. Although it was slightly weird for a few seconds, Red Scar thought about the name a bit more. He wasn't use to shortening out his name, let alone someone else call him by something else instead of his nickname or clone number. But the more he thought about it, the more he was starting to like it.

"R.S. huh?" Red Scar thought out loud, trying to make it slip off his tongue more easily as he kept repeating it more and more. After a few seconds of saying it, he looked back at his commander, a small smile appearing underneath his helmet. "You know what, I like it. It's actually easier to say!"

"Is that what you want, Scar?" Rilos asked in a questionable tone.

"Yes sir, I'm sure," R.S. replied back, his smile growing even more.

"Then I guess R.S. it is, then," Rilos said, shrugging a bit with a still confused body language.

Kydan laughed at Rilos' confusion, with R.S. joining in on the fun. With only a few more words back and forth, the two left R.S. to finishing up his preparations for the mission, making their way back to the exit doors.

"Thank you for introducing me to the squad, sergeant," Kydan said to Rilos, feeling less nervous than he had earlier when meeting his team.

"It was a pleasure, sir," Rilos replied, also feeling a bit more relaxed from the nerves he had when meeting his new officer, let alone a Jedi for the first time. "I'll admit, we were all nervous meeting you, Commander."

"Why's that?" Kydan asked with a surprised look. They were nervous to meet him? Did they know who he was or something?

"Honestly, we haven't met a Jedi before, so you would be the first,"Rilos admitted, albeit a bit embarrassed. "When we learned that we were going to have a Jedi padawan as our commander, we didn't really know what to think at first. Karabast, we didn't even know what you Jedi were like, so were all pretty nervous meeting you. When you gave Scar a new nickname like that, I was surprised that he actually liked it. In his eyes, your his friend sir."

Kydan couldn't believe what he was hearing from the clone sergeant. Never has anyone but Rilicia and his Master acknowledged or complimented him on anything, even the littlest of things! It made him feel welcome, relaxed; he felt like he belonged somewhere for the first time in his life. It was a great feeling...no, an amazing feeling. He just knew that Black Moon Squad would be-

 _'Attention, attention!'_ The speakers shouted throughout the entire Acclamator, booming all around them. _'This is Captain Wolrein of the_ Ne'-Cross _speaking! We have just received orders to move the fleet into the planet's atmosphere! All personnel to their battle stations, and all troops to their designated gunships! Repeat; all personnel and troops to their designated areas! We will be reaching the atmosphere in 10 minutes!'_

 _So much for having a fond moment_ , Kydan thought to himself, a bit annoyed as well. "Well, so much for preparations. Have you and your men meet me in the hangar bay, sergeant!"

"Yes sir, right away sir," Rilos replied, quickly saluting to his commander before rushing to the team and gathering them together.

Kydan, nodding back at the sergeant before leaving him, dashing out of his squad's quarters and making his way through the hallways, passing by multiple military personnel as they rushed to their stations, preparing for combat that would be quick to come. He didn't understand why, but somewhere deep inside him, whatever would happened down on the rocky, desert planet of Geonosis, he knew that his life would be altered from now on...


	2. Chapter 2: Tower of Shadows

**Hello ladies and gents, my name is Director K.W., and welcome back to another chapter of _Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rise of the Dark Mercenary_! I just wanna address of the short chapter this one was, considering that a long while back, this was all a comic series before becoming a story based series. So we did what we could to make it a bit longer than it was originally, and still hope you will all enjoy it nonetheless. Also, if you guys are enjoying this series so far, or if some things need work, please let us know in a review. Every time you guys do, it shows us how we can do better and how much you all enjoy this. **

**But for now, let's move on to the next chapter, so thank you all for reading, and as always, have a fan-tucking-tastic day/night! See ya in the next one!**

 **\- Director K.W.**

* * *

 _Planet: Geonosis_

 _Location: Geonosian Research Tower_

 _Date: 22 BBY_

 _Time Lapse: Two Hours after departure from the_ Ne'-Cross

* * *

Geonosis. Rocky, lots of mountains, desert terrains, and the bloody heat wave that washes over the entire planet everyday. That's what Kydan could only describe this barbaric planet. It was not the place to get yourself a sun tan. More like getting a sun burn, or dying from the heat or become dehydrated all at once. To anyone that would ask, the planet was a horrible place for a vacation spot.

Although the planet was so miserable and so hot, it wasn't gonna stop Kydan and Black Moon Squad from completing their mission. Recently, Kydan and Black Moon had been pin down, trying to hold position their position til Rilicia and her squad, White Claw, to arrive with the reinforcements that they had asked for. For a bit, they struggled to survive against the overwhelming odds, but they were able to push back the droid forces to the Geonosian Research Tower, possibly knowing that the Mandalorian, Alurak Eclipse, could have possibly laid out a trap for them ahead of time. But even though it was already risky as it was, it wasn't gonna stop them from doing so. They were far too close to bringing down Eclipse permanently.

On the north side of the tower, upon a small but heavily defended platform full of B1 Battle Droids and B2 Super Battle Droids, the droid forces were keeping up the pressure on Kydan and his men, pinning them all down as they hid and took cover behind the rock formations. Every time Kydan and his clones would get their timings just right, it would always backfire when the Turret Droid would keep them from taking their pod shots when they need them.

Kydan had just deflected a few laser shots with his single bladed purple saber when the turret targeted him, spraying a stream of laser fire upon him. He had just missed its shots at the nick of time, taking cover right behind a rock formation.

He was having enough of the turret, a loud annoyance leaving his mouth, "Hopper, Bulk! Concentrate your fire on that Turret Droid! We ain't gonna get any closer if that thing keeps pinning us down!"

"Sir yes sir!" They both shouted, beginning to focus their attack on the turret in the middle of the platform. As they began to shoot at it, Kydan sprang back out in the open, deflecting whatever shots he could back at that thing.

With the combine fire of both Hopper, Bulk and Kydan's deflection shots, the Turret Droid couldn't handle the firepower as it overloaded and exploded, causing a small explosion within the middle of the platform, engulfing some of the droids that were near it too.

Rilos, who had been taking cover and pod shots behind a sandy and rocky hill along with Scanner, sees the turret explodes on his left. He sighs in relief underneath his helmet before turning his attention to Scanner, who had just brought down one the Super Battle Droids in the back.

"Well, that takes care of that Turret Droid! Scanner, any news on Commander Rilicia reinforcements?"

"N-No sir! We've lost c-contact with White Claw Squadron t-twenty minutes ago! Last w-we heard was that they were already ad-advancing into the research t-t-tower!"

 _'So much for those reinforcements_ , Rilos sighed internally within his head. He looked over his shoulder before a basic battle droid tried to take a shot on his, ducking back under cover. "Alright, we need to wrap this up fast! Once we're through, we can lend them a hand inside!"

"U-U-Understood, sir!" Scanner stammered out loud, taking a few more on the droid forces while Rilos looks for their commander.

He spots Kydan in the front, continuing to deflect the blaster fire back at the enemy, taking a couple down every now and then. He calls out to him, "Commander Witress! Rilicia and her reinforcements aren't coming any time soon! They're already entered the tower from the south section, but we don't know if they've made contact with the enemy forces inside!"

 _'So much for those reinforcements'_ , Kydan silently thought, although a smirk formed between his lips. _'Then again...it_ is _Rilicia, after all'_ He looked towards the tall, large cylinder rock tower before them all, forming a plan inside his head. "Sergeant Rilos, get a Thermal Detonator ready! I want you to throw it right at the fuel cells that was powering that Turret Droid! The rest of you, focus all your fire on the remaining Super Battle Droids! We're gonna go right through them!"

"Sir yes sir!" All of the clones shouted, each and every one of them taking aim at the last eight Super Battle Droids as they tried to gun them down fast as they could. In the process, R.S. and Bulk both took down three of them with their sniper and repeater gun, in which they both cheered out loud on the small victory they achieved.

Kydan just smirked even more, before turning to Rilos as he deflected another shot from his saber. "Rilos, you ready?!"

"Yes sir! But are you sure it'll work?!"

"We're about to find out! Now, throw it!"

When Kydan's last words escaped his mouth, Rilos threw the detonator in the air, bouncing off the wall behind the droid forces as it rolled and stopped next to the fuel tanks that were connected to the destroyed Turret Droid.

Deactivating his purple blade, Kydan rushes for cover, shouting out to his men, "Squad! Take cover!"

When the Droid Commander heard the padawan's words out loud, it looked towards the fuel tanks, quickly realizing what was about to happen. "Uh-oh..."

Just as the droid commander finishes its words, the detonator explodes within the area, creating a chain reaction in the fuel cells of the destroyed turret, causing a large radius explosion between the remaining droids, wiping out not just the commander, but all the droids left on the platform.

Black Moon Squad looks over their covering spots, gazing at the explosion that was surrounding the platform before them. When the smoke cleared and no other droids were left standing, each and every one of them cheered out loud, raising their guns in the air for their first victory against the enemy.

Kydan chuckled at the clones, shaking his head at the same time. "Alright team, I know this was a great victory, but we need to continue on. We have to meet up with Commander Rilicia and White Claw Squad."

He turned to Scanner, who was fidgeting with his comm link. "Scanner, can you find where White Claw Squad is in the tower with your equipment?"

"Y-Yes sir, I can," Scanner nodded to his commander, placing his backpack on the ground and searching through his stuff."

"Good. Try to make it quick, we need to find them fast. Who knows what trouble they got themselves into."

* * *

The Geonosian Lab Tower was massive and tall in size. It was built up to fifteen levels; each of them being divided into three sections. On the top floors were the locations of the command center and experimental labs. The middle floors were the areas of the main labs and droid manufacturing. Lastly, the bottom floors were the cargo holds, main entrance and hangar bays. Considering that it was all but one of many others across the planet, it was impressive nonetheless.

Within the main laboratories of the tower, a man with dark black hair, wearing crimson red, gray colored Mandalorian armor, rushes about in the lab as he hurries to pack away all the research that he had been working on for months, storing the informations and data onto hard drives. Ever since he heard the Republic forces from outside the tower, he knew that he had little time before the tower was either overrun, or destroyed, before he could escape. His clients had assured him that their droids would hold off against the invaders 'til he and his crew could escape the facility before they reach him.

The Mandalorian rubbed his hair roughly, getting annoyed with the computers that he was messing with. "Karabast! This is taking too long! If I don't get these files uploaded soon, it'll be too late! K-12! Are you done with those files yet?!"

A dark red colored B1 Battle Droid turned its head to the bounty hunter, shaking its head, "Not yet, Lord Alurak. It'll finished in a few minutes."

"Well hurry it up! I don't want the Republic or Jedi to get here while I'm around. If they catch me, they'll throw me in the prisons on Coruscant."

"As you say, my lord."

As Alurak scurries about packing up his research, a single metal door slides open as a figure walks into the room, no doubt approaching Alurak. He wore a long, black robe that covered half his body. His chest plate was a metal black and gray armor piece, with a strange, red symbol in the middle. He had black hair and yellow eyes, with a scar that was cut from his left eye down to the corner of his right lip.

Alurak heared his approach, not even looking back to him as he heard him stop from behind. "Your droids are as pathetic as they are stupid, Dark Acolyte."

"Indeed, but they come at a very reasonable and profitable price. Much easier to mass produce than creating an entire cloned army that takes more time and effort into making."

Alurak turns around and looked at the middle aged acolyte, his expression turning to a look of seriousness, his eyes narrowed. "In any case, your new droids are ready to go, and are being transfered to your secret facility as requested by you and Lord Tyranus. Now...about my payment..."

"No worries, Eclipse. First things first; have you received the data, Lord Tyranus?

Turning their gazes towards the projector table next to the computer that Alurak was typing on, a small hologram appears from the projector, revealing a blue, figure sized image of Tyranus, or Count Dooku, staring at them both.

 _'Indeed, Nedoura. Lord Sidious is now eagerly awaiting for results'_ , Dooku replied back to the older cloacked man. _'And, of course, your payment Mandalorian. Because of the work that you have produced for us, we are being a bit generous to give you double your pay. This should possibly cover any expense that you need.'_

With a huff and smirk plastered on his lips, he does a quick bow and nod to Dooku. "Then I think I'll take me leave. If you ever need some testing or...to say...'fixing', you know where to find me."

 _'We will keep that in mind in the future, Eclipse. As for you, Lord Nedoura, Lord Sidious has issued you a new assignment. He wants the intruders within the tower permanently out of the picture. Deal with them and then get off the planet.'_

"Of course, but I will deal with them my way, Tyranus," Nedoura countered to the Dark Lord. "I have a personal vendetta to settle with one of the Jedi. It shouldn't take long."

 _'Good. But if you do fail your assignment, you will be explaining it all to Sidious himself,'_ Dooku threatened the older acolyte.

"You take me too lightly, Count," Nedoura said, a smug grin plastered upon his lips. "No need for worry though. I will handle it."

Staring at Nedoura for a brief moment, Dooku slightly nods at the acolyte before the hologram image of him fades away, leaving only but the noises that were coming from outside the tower.

Seeing that it was his que to leave, Nedoura turns to Alurak before making his way to the door. "If you excuse me Eclipse, I must prepare my droids and men for the coming battle."

"And I'll be getting off this planet, then. I've wasted enough of my precious time here anyways."

Nedoura smirks at the Mandalorian's comment before walking \ towards the door, leaving only Alurak, K-12 and a few Mandalorian guards in the room. Just passing through the hall, another Mandalorian rushed past the Dark Acolyte, entering the room with.

"Sir, your ship is ready for take off."

"Good. Have all the men aboard and ready for departure. We're getting off this dust ball."

"As you command, my liege!"

Alurak then turns back to the computer that he was using, ejecting all the files and drives out of the system before walking up to his desk of random, unimportant files and grabs his gray helmet. He approaches his soldier and hands him the drives while he puts his helmet on top of his head.

He turns to K-12 and orders him, "K-12! Your in charge now! Stay here and wait for the enemy to get here. Delete all the files in the main computer frames just like we planned. We don't want to tip off the Republic more than we have already."

"Yes, my lord, but what do we do when they get here?"

Alurak chuckles with a sinister tone, walking towards the door with his Mandalorian soldier as they make their way down to the hangars. He looks over his shoulder at K-12, a grin formed underneath his helmet.

"That's not my problem now, is it?"


	3. Chapter 3: Distressful Feelings

**Hello ladies and gents', and welcome back to another chapter of the _Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rise of the Dark Mercenary_ series! Man has it been some time since I've posted again, but I am looking forward to completing and finishing the first season of our series. It's been what...8 months and 13 days since I've last updated? Eh, who's really counting lol! I'll keep my mouth shut from here and let you guys get into reading the next chapter. So thank you all for your patience for the third chapter, and if you like the series so far, leave a fave and/or follow to keep up-to-date with the series! And always, have a fan-tucking-tastic day/night! See ya' in the next one!**

 **\- Director K.W.**

* * *

 _ **Planet: Geonosis**_

 _ **Location: Geonosian Research Tower**_

 _ **Date: 22 BBY**_

 _ **Time Lapse: Half an hour later after invading the Geonosian Tower**_

* * *

"Commander, the droids have us outnumbered! We're running low on ammunition and cover! What are your orders?!"

"Keep fighting, Flash! We just got to hold out 'til Kydan and his men get here!"

"Copy that, ma'am!"

 _'If he gets here in time, that is...'_ , the blonde haired Jedi Knight woman though to herself, before deflecting an energy blast back with her green bladed lightsaber.

Down below the sixth floor within the research tower, Rilicia and her squad, White Claw, had breached the large room of what little cargo there was left, having defeated some B1 Battle Droids and B2 Super Battle Droids in the vicinity. They had all just begun to head towards the next set of stairs to the seventh floor before being entrapped within the cargo bay, the door before them sealed off. To make matters worth, the reinforcements that were suppose to aid the other droid forces earlier had finally caught up to them; containing B1 Battle Droids, B2 Super Battle Droids, a few, but deadly, Droidekas and one single DSD1 Dwarf Spider Droid, all charging up to them all, pinning them back to take cover.

Rilicia thought that it was a nightmare. "Boomer, we need that Spider Droid gone!"

"Working on it, commander!" Boomer cried out, rushing to reload his rocket launcher in hand. After a few seconds, he lifts the launcher in the air and aims it right at the droid, using the automatic targeting computer for better success.

"Suck on this, you clanker!"

Pulling the trigger, the missile launches out from the rocket launcher, flying right towards the Spider Droid at high speed. With little time to react, the missile makes a clean hit, creating a massive explosion that engulfed almost the entire droid itself, destroying both the Spider Droid, one Super Battle Droid and a couple Battle Droids that had been around it.

Boomer places the rocket launcher down before cheering out loud. "Ha ha! Take that, you junkies!"

"Good work Boomer, that takes ca-," Rilicia paused for a brief moment before looking at her other clone soldier, Wilow, who had just taken down a simple battle droid. When she saw the Super Battle droid aim its wrist blaster at him, she cried out, "Wilow, get down!"

"Wha-!" Before Wilow could even finish whatever he was going to say, he felt the sudden, burning stings in his chest plate, multiple shots piercing right through him. "GAH!"

Rilicia winced and mourned the death of her fellow trooper, who had dropped to the ground. But even though she had lost her fellow trooper, that wasn't gonna stop her from defeating the droid forces. She and her squad had come too far to surrender and lay down their lives now. They _had_ to hold this position!

She looked behind her to one of her other troopers, who was currently slicing his way through the control panel next to the sealed door. "Hacker! Hows it coming with that door?!"

"Its taking a little longer than I would have hoped ma'am," he replied, just pulling two small blue and black wires out as it caused it to spark. "I don't know how much longer it'll take to get her open!"

Rilicia sighed silently in annoyance. She wasn't mad with Hacker, but more with their current situation before them all. "Then work as fast as you can! Otherwise, those droids will call for reinforcements! And frankly, we don't have enough ammunition or men for that!"

"Copy that, Commander! I'm on it!"

"Hang on boys! Droidekas incoming!"

As soon as she turned her attention back to the droids, two large, brown metallic machines, known as Droidekas, rolled into the fray of the battle, deploying themselves right beside the remaining Super Battle Droids as they began to blast away at the remaining clones and Jedi commander. If that wasn't enough; one of the remaining Super Battle Droids was able to hit one of the soldiers, named Kuros, gunning the clone right down to the ground just as the last droid had done to Willow earlier. They were all beginning that this was the final line of defense; either kill or be killed.

Dodging the incoming gunfire from the opposite side, Flash ducks beside next to Boomer and behind his commander. "I don't think we can hold out much longer commander! We're down to three men!"

Although she hated to admit it, Lieutenant Flash was right. Their entire squad was now slimmed down to three men. It was now up to Flash, Boomer, Hacker, and herself to survive and hold the line. Even though the odds were against them, they had no other choice. This was their final stand alright, and they all knew it.

"...Then we'll go down by taking them with us, Lieutenant." She looks to the rest of her remaining soldiers around her, who were all looking at her awaiting her final order as their leader. "White Claw Squadron, take out as many as you can! No mercy!"

"Sir, yes ma'am!" They all shouted as Flash, Boomer, and even Hacker all picked themselves out from their cover and began to open fire at the droid forces, hoping to take down whatever they can with them. Rilicia jumped out of her own cover, igniting her green saber and started to deflect the incoming fire from the Super Battle Droids and Droidekas.

As the entire squadron made their final attempts against the droids, from behind the droid enemy, a few unknown blue energy shots are heard and seen from behind, taking out two of the five Super Battle Droids. Then, out of one of the Droidekas that was continuing to barrage the clones and Jedi with its ray shield on surrounding it, slowly begins to float in midair as the shield itself deactivates and all shots from it was ceased to a halt.

None of them knew what was happening, but the clones stopped firing at the droids, taking cover once again and only poking their helmets out to look beyond the battlefield. Even Rilicia was totally confused to what was happening, as well.

She looked at the droids dumbfounded. "What the blazes...?"

Taking a moment to see what was causing the droids to act weird and stop firing at them, Flash looked behind the enemy to see if the source of their actions was the case. When he did, he realized what was happening. "Ma'am, look!"

In an instant, the Droideka was flung right towards the right, smashing into the metal wall as it somewhat exploded and sparked simultaneously, falling back onto the steel floor with a thud. From behind the droids was but Kydan and Black Moon Squad, rushing towards them as they began to focus all their efforts on the remaining droids before them all.

Kydan activates his purple blade, pointing the saber directly at the droids. "Alright boys, take them out!"

As the last of his words escaped his lips. each one chose to target the last Droideka as they caught it off guard, creating enough it could make a full turn around. With just the right amount of attacks, the Droideka was too vulnerable and utterly was shredded away from the gunfire shots.

Meanwhile, Kydan chose to pursue one of the last Super Battle Droids while Rilicia took the chance to attack the other from behind, both of them slicing each droid's arms off and cutting them in half at the exact same time.

As the two collapsed tot he ground in pieces, White Claw made a cheer of victory as they knew the battle was finally over. Rilicia, sighing in relief, turns her gaze towards Kydan with a bright smile. She was so glad that they came in the nick of time, but was also worried about them when they attacked the tower outside earlier. Though, she was overjoyed that he was okay.

"Kydan!" She rushed up to him before coming to a halt in front of him, forcefully restraining herself to not hug him. "Thank the Force your alright! We thought your team was wiped out."

"We thought the same about you guys when we couldn't make any contact with you," Kydan admitted, a small smile forming on his lips. "But, thanks to Scanner, he was able to locate where you and your squad were. If he hadn't, we would have never got here in time. I'm just glad your safe, Rilicia."

Rilicia was slightly caught off from his last comment, a small blush appearing on her cheek bones. Hoping to avoid the embarrassment, she smiled and replied back, "Well, I'm glad your safe too Kydan. Thanks for saving me and my team."

Kydan blushed back, rubbing the back of his neck in his own embarrassment with a small chuckle. "O-Oh, j-just doing my job as a Jedi."

Not fully understanding what was going on between their two commanders, Flash and R.S. approached them both, their helmets being held between their arms. Flash spoke up first, "Commanders, Hacker just finished hacking through the main door. Area is secured and are ready to proceed to the labs on your orders."

"Excellent. What is our loses Leuitenant?" Rilicia questioned them.

"We lost Wilow and Curos in the battle. We're down to three men in the squad ma'am. Our squad is down to a task force, and we don't have enough numbers to overrun the tower. Any ideas, ma'am?"

It was true, their numbers have dwindled to only a small task force all because of her actions. She should be feeling guilt for the whole outcome, but knew that it wouldn't help her if she started to blame herself. She then murmurs to herself, not satisfied with it all."This might be harder than I expected..."

Kydan understood what she meant. Being under the command of many lives was very challenging, and it's difficult to figure out if you will carry out the right or wrong orders during the battles before and after. It wasn't very pleasant.

With a broad grin, Kydan spoke up. "Well, I guess it's a good thing you have us then, huh Rilicia?"

"Still, who knows how much tougher it's gonna be when we reach the labs. If Eclipse is still there, he'll definitely be ready for us."

Kydan's grin grows even more, "Then we'll use that to our advantage. Flash, you and your men have any thermal detonators left?"

When Kydan looked to the rest of White Claw Squadron, he saw the three clones searching through their plastic white pouches and backpacks for any detonators they had left. Fortunately for them, each one of them was carrying one each.

Flash and his men showed the commander their last grenades. "Uh, yes sir. Each of us have at least one. But if you don't mind me asking; why?"

"Cause, Lieutenant, we're gonna need to be blowing ourselves a new 'entrance'?"

"Uh...'new entrance', sir?"

He chuckles at the soldier. "You'll understand once we get in there."

Rilicia just giggles from Kydan's comment, while Flash just tilted his head in an utterly confused state. With a simple smirk, Kydan turns his attention to Rilos, Scanner and Hopper who were just approaching them all.

"Rilos? I need you and the rest of the team to secure and hold this position until we get back. There's no telling what or when the droids will be coming back."

"Understood sir," Rilos replied, both he and his men cocking their weapons. "We'll contact you if we see any droids in the vicinity."

"Good man," the young Jedi nodded with a smile. He turns to Rilicia and her men, his smile not faltering in the slightest. "Alright, lets get in there and capture that Mandalorian."

"Lets just hope we're not too late," Rilicia hoped as she, Kydan and the team rushed out of the room and through the corridors of the tower, leaving the rest to protect the area for escape.

* * *

 _Time Lapse: Ten minutes after losing contact with droid forces_

* * *

Inside the laboratory, droid unit K-17, ex-assistant droid of Alurak, scrambles across the entire lab in preparations for the enemies' arrival. With one last objective left to accomplish, K17 quickly contacts its master, revealing a small blue silhouette appears before it.

"My lord, our reinforcements have all been eliminated below the lab," K-17 addresses, "We no longer have reinforcements available."

 _'It is of little concern,'_ the mysterious man replies to the droid, unfazed by the news. _'We have accomplished what we needed here. Do what you can to keep the Jedi and Republic away from our mission. We do not need any interference.'_

"Understood, sir," K-17 said, nodding its head. "We'll hold them here."

As the hologram projecting the silhouette disappears in front of K-17, the two battle droids that are guarding the doorway to the lab start to hear a small knocking noise from the other side of the room. The one on the left notices the noise as it looks, first, to the door and then back at it's counterpart.

"Did you hear that?" It asked the other droid.

"I didn't hear anything," the other replied, slightly shaking it's thin stick-like head. "You must be hearing things again."

The droid looks to the door. "I could have sworn I heard something. It sounded like a knock."

"Your sensors must be malfunctioning again," the other said to it. "You should head down to repairs later, get yourself a che-"

Before the droid could finish it's sentence, they both suddenly start hearing a small, quiet beeping noise from the other side. This time, both of them looked to the door, utterly confused as to what the sound is.

"What is that sound?"

"Sounds like some sort of 'beeping' noise."

"Wait a minute...isn't that what they call a-"

 _"Get back!"_ a man's voice shouted from the other side of the metal doorway.

Immediately, the two droids looked at one another with concerned voices, "Uh-oh..." With that, the doorway in front of them shattered into multiple pieces, blasting off across the laboratory, striking at few of the droids that were protecting the room as they broke into piles of scrap metal.

K-17 picked itself up from hiding underneath the panel, slightly shaken from the surprise attack, before seeing a handful of clones rushing into the room, followed by none other but Kydan and Rilicia who both had their swords ignited into pure energy blades.

The droid assistant coward backwards slowly as it started shouting commands to the remaining three battle droids and the single super battle droid in the room. "Don't just stand there! Blast them already!"

But before the droids could even retaliate against their foes, Flash and his clone brothers were far too quick on the draw as they all gunned down the four security droid guards in the room, leaving only K-17 alone without any droid support or reinforcements to depend on. The clones and the two young Jedi all had their blades and blasters directed at the droid assistant, who was now terrified as it could be.

Not knowing what to do, the droid raised it's thin metal arms in the air slowly as he spoke, "Uh...I...surrender myself?" But as it's words left its voice box, Boomer had taken the shot first, piercing a clean energy blast right between the droid's memory band and eyes. With that, the droid assistant collapsed onto the ground, shutting itself down permanently.

Flash shook his head slightly at Boomer, "Couldn't resist, could ya' brother?"

"What? Like that droid was gonna talk," Boomer shrugged innocently and truthfully, causing half of the team to slightly chuckle.

"So much for meeting with the assassin himself," Rilicia said in disappointment. "He must have escape the tower the moment we all breached inside."

"Well if anything, we can see if he left anything valuable for us to take back for Republic Intelligence," Kydan replied in a hopeful matter, strolling up to one of the computer panels in the center. "So let's get to work, and fast."

"Right. Flash, have the others guard the door while we hack into the computer main frames. We don't want to have anymore surprises left in this place."

"Copy that, ma'am."

As Flash, Boomer, R.S. and Hopper stayed near the exploded doorway watching for any droid reinforcements to start marching to them, Kydan, Rilicia and Hacker got to work on trying to slice through the mainframes of what was Alurak's personal files.

Fifteen minutes passes as Kydan, Rilicia and Hacker continue to slice through the mainframes for any information about Alurak or any other important documents on what the Separatist were doing here. So far, however, none of them were making much progress.

"Anything yet Rilicia?" Kydan sighed as he looked over his shoulder for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the mainframe.

"I got...nothing. How about you Hacker?"

Hacker shook his head in a 'no' fashion. "Nothing. Its looks like he wiped out everything inside the computers before he left the tower. He knew that we would come."

"Which was why that droid assistant stayed behind, so he could have insurance of wiping out the data..." Kydan's fustration was building up slowly, but just made it worse when he smashed his fisted hands on the computer in front of him. "Karabast!"

Noticing and sensing his fustration, Rilicia approaches him and places a delicate hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down, as well as comfort him at the same time. "Relax Kydan. No need to get all worked up about it. Besides, there's always a next time. When we meet him again, we'll be more than ready."

Reluctantly, Kydan knew that she was right. She was _always_ right, as a matter of fact. True, it wasn't a complete lost just yet. They still have a mission to finish, and that's what he was going to do. Complete the mission and go home, simple as that.

Exhaling some air as he collected himself calmly, he smiles to her. "You're right, Rilicia. I shouldn't let my anger get the better of me. That's not what a Jedi would let happen, and I shouln't give into it so easy. I appreciate it a lot. Thank you."

A small pink blush appears on her cheeks as she gives him a gentle and sincere smile. But then she lets a frown to form on her lips as she lets go of his shoulder, obviously causing some confusion to her young Jedi friend. Friend, that was what they were right now. But somewhere, deep down in her heart, she wanted something...more. Of course she knew that it was forbidden in the Jedi Order, in fact, it was severe punishment for having such an attachment like that! But she knew that she had to tell him, and right now was the time. The more she keeps hold onto the feeling, the more it will eat at her. And the more she waits will be the day when it will be too late.

Taking a large, deep breath to try and calm herself, she looks to Kydan in the eyes as her own eyes shine in the bright light that was directly above her. That same small blush she had now turning to a lingering shaded red. "Kydan? There's...there's something I need to tell you."

Kydan cocked his head a bit, still unsure of what was going on with her. "Sure, what is it?"

Taking a moment adjust herself, she takes another deep breath before choosing her words correctly. "Kydan, we've been through so much all these years. We've known each other since we were just younglings, and on the day we met at the funeral in the Jedi Temple. And, throughout all that time, I can always remember the best times we had going on missions together. And I remember all the amazing things we've done together as we grown up, and none of that has left me to this day. In fact...I don't want those times to end anytime soon..."

Still not understanding what she was trying to say, he urges her to continue. "What are you trying to say, Rilicia?"

"W-What I'm trying to say is...um, well...what I'm trying to say exactly is...is that...I..."

"Go on..."

"I...Kydan, I lo-"

Just before she could finally complete her sentence to him, Flash approaches them from the doorway. His body language was giving them both an obivious worry and concern. "Commanders, we've been trying to contact Rilos and the rest of his squad, but there hasn't been any response."

Kydan's eyes widen as his concern peaked. It wasn't normal for a clone to not respond back when being contacted. He has a strong feeling that something is definitely wrong. "Something must have happened to them. We need to get back down to the cargo area and check on them. There's nothing left for us to do here, anyhow."

"Yes sir! Let's move White Claw Squad!"

The clones of White Claw all not in compliance to their sergeant's orders, all of them moving into the hallway. Kydan was close behind them, just making his way out before he looked over his shoulder to see Rilicia had not moved an inch from her spot. He could see disappointment and, what appeared to be, sadness written across her entire face. Her eyes looked more glassy than before, much more than from before.

Concern washed over him quickly, not really knowing what to say to her. "Rilicia, is everything alright?"

Snapping out of her own sadness, she looks to Kydan who was staring at her with his concerned expression. She didn't want him to see her sadness, let alone her disappointment. She was a Jedi Knight, and a Jedi does not look weak to anyone, especially their closest friends. Doing he best to hide her expression, she immediately changes her mood rubbing her glassy eyes with her sleeve. "Y-Yeah, I'm good. Let's get moving!"

Brushing past him as fast as her legs could bare, her last expression of sadness returns as she tries her best to hide her face from Kydan and the clones before her. Kydan looked to Rilicia for a moment when the clones looked to him in question. He shrugs at them in response, not really knowing what was going on with her. With that, he and the others follow behind the young Jedi Knight as they make haste back to the cargo bay.


	4. Chapter 4: The Last Moments

**Hello ladies and gents', I am your host Director K.W., and welcome back to another chapter! Yes, another chapter posted within less than a week's time, and I am so happy to finally get past this and move on to much bigger and more eventful events that will happen to our hero, Kydan Witress! So I won't keep you guys here long with the introduction, so I'll just keep my mouth shut lol.**

 **As always, if you guys like what you are reading and want to keep up-to-date with the series, leave a fave and/or follow to show your guy's support cause it's you guys that make this worthwhile. Have a fan-tucking-tastic day/night! See ya' in the next one!**

 **\- Director K.W.**

* * *

 ** _Planet: Geonosis_**

 ** _Location: Geonosian Research Tower_**

 ** _Date: 22 BBY_**

 ** _Time Lapse: Fifteen minutes after leaving the labs_**

* * *

Kydan, Rilicia and White Claw squad finally reach the cargo area after a few mishaps with some remaining resistance on the last few floors back down. As the twin doors slid open, the first thing that they all saw was...absolutely nothing. Before them was nothing but pitch black darkness that engulfed the entire bay. The two Jedi ignited their blades as purple and green lighting intertwined with one another across part of the room, while White Claw squad and R.S. activated their hub lights on their helmets, hoping that it will help give more light in the large room.

"Rilos? R.S? Scanner? Where are you guys at?!" Kydan shouted throughout the room as the group made their way through the cargo bay slowly.

"This is strange. We were only gone for nearly an hour. Where could they have gone, and why would the lights in here be all off?" Rilicia questioned them all, unsure as to what was going on.

"I don't know..."

"I got a bad feeling about this, guys..." R.S. said in a cautious tone, he and his brothers cocking their weapons as they aim them in position.

Just then, every light in the bay turn back on, revealing nothing but two dead white armored bodies and the destroyed Spider Walker and droids in the bay room. Besides those, the cargo crates have all been arranged in specific areas around the room, leaving a wide open space between them and the other side of the room.

"What the heck is going on?!" Rilicia cried out in shock.

"I don't understand. I thought we cleared out the tower already!" Kydan shook his head in utter confusion

"Oh I concur, Master Jedi..." a ominous voice replied back.

Walking towards the small group was a crimson red and grey armored Mandalorian approaching them, wielding what appeared to be a customized E5 series droid blaster gripped in his gloved hands. Following close behind him were two regular B1 Battle Droids, each one on opposite sides of the Mandalorian.

"I have to say, you put on quite a show here in our tower. Sadly, however, like all other performances, the show must come to an end."

"Who are you?" Kydan demanded to the Mandalorian.

"I am Ulrok, one of Alurak's Elite Guards. Well...I should say was before I was assigned to take on a group of clones and their Jedi in the research facility. My masters have ordered me to take you all down, one way or another."

"I don't think you know who your dealing with, do you?" Boomer mocked back.

"That depends on your point of view, clone. Though, I can confidently say that my master knows who you are...Kydan Witress."

Taking back a bit, Kydan looked at Ulrok in surprise. "H-How did you know my name?"

"Does it really matter? It's not like any of you are getting out of here alive...well, at least most of you won't. But of course, before we continue any further, I believe you are somewhat acquanted with these clones..."

Coming from behind Ulrok and his guards, four more battle droids approached, escorting all but four familiar clone troopers. It was no doubt but Rilos and the entire Black Moon Squadron. Forcefully, the four clones were pinned down to their knees with their hands behind their backs as the droids that had escorted them stood behind them with their blasters in hand.

"Black Moon Squad!" Kydan shouted in shock.

Tiredly raising his head, Rilos replied back to his commander in a weak and guilty tone. "Sorry sir...we failed our mission."

"Sad to say, these clones didn't put up much of a fight after we stunned them all," Ulrok mocked to them all, feeling a bit proud of his little accomplishment. "Perhaps you two Jedi will prove to be better foes than these clones would have."

Raising his hand, Ulrok makes a signal towards the droids as they all aimed their E5-series blasters in the back of Black Moon squad's heads. Silently, each of those clones were feeling the fear and terrifying emotions running through them all. This was the first time that they ever had to experience death of some kind. They definitely were not ready for this.

"W-What are you-" Kydan muttered out just as Ulrok signaled one last time to the droids.

"Fire." With no time to react from any one of the Jedi or clones, four gunfire shots were heard from dthe battle droid's blasters as all four of the clones dropped to the ground head first, each one laying on the floor lifeless with energy blaster holes in their heads from the back.

Kydan's eyes were wide open, his jaw half opened in the process as he had just witnessed his own clone squad be executed right in front of his own eyes. His entire team, besides R.S., were all dead, leaving only him and R.S. as the last survivors of their broken team.

Rage and anger began fueling and flowing through his blood and veins, grinding his teeth harder than he has before. With swift movement, he re-ignites his purple blade as he makes a fast dash at Ulrok, his eyes colored in a rose bud red. Anger was all there was now. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Kydan, wait!" Rilicia cried out to him as she saw him charging towards Ulrok and his droids.

"Dispose of these pests," Ulrok waved carelessly to his droids as he began walking away and making his way to the other twin doors from where he had came from earlier.

"Roger roger!"

As Ulrok makes his way out, the rest of the droid forces raised their blasters at the oncoming, raging Jedi who had no attentions of stopping anytime soon.

"Blast them!" the Droid Commander ordered as a couple of B2 Super Battle Droids were marching up behind them, aiming their wrist blasters at Kydan as they began to open fire.

With one large leap, with the Force to give him an added boost, Kydan jumps over all the gun blazing droid forces, landing right behind them all as he continues to give chase at Ulrok

"Karabast! Flash, you and the others get rid of these droids! I'm going after Kydan and Ulrok!" Rilicia ordered as she too began to chase after the two.

"Copy that ma'am!" Flash and his men quickly take cover behind the arranged cargo that was

Rilicia, copying what Kydan had done, leaps over the droids as she was able to see Ulrok and Kydan turning to the left side of the hallway, likely heading towards the Hangar Bay area. She started to think that it would possibly be Ulrok's plan to lead herself and Kydan there and away from their own team. Creating a small note to herself, she concluded that this was a trap that was awaiting them. Making haste, she starts to follow them both.

 _Just don't do anything stupid 'til I get there Kydan...please,_ she thought to herself hopefully, praying that nothing will happen to him before she gets there.

* * *

 ** _Time Lapse: Ten minutes after Ulrok is being chased by Kydan, along with Rilicia close behind..._**

* * *

The sound of metal smacking against solid metal flooring covered the halls as the two foes made haste, one of them trying to outrun the other while the other's intentions is to capture him, possibly alive. The young Jedi's anger still boiled, and his hate towards the Mandalorian lingered and manifested. He knew it was wrong to let his emotions get the better of him, let alone to creating the thought of wanting to end his life for. But considering that his entire squad died right before his eyes clouded his judgment ever more.

Not too far behind was Rilicia herself, doing all she can to try and reach them both before something terrible happens between them. Honestly, though, she was more worried that Kydan would indeed kill the Mandalorian the moment he gets his bare hands on him.

Ulrok's plan was going quite smoothly than originally planned. By leading the Jedi away from their clone troopers, it gave him the better opportunity to face them alone and capture the Witronian Jedi. He still didn't understand why his master wanted the young man whatsoever. From first glance, he was nothing but a normal Jedi Padawan that was no different from any other Jedi of their Jedi Order. But his master was quite persistent and very determined to have him captured alive, so without another thought in mind, he just followed his command.

"Face me like a man, Ulrok!" Kydan shouted from behind, his voice still carrying the anger he had towards him.

"Oh don't worry, Jedi,"Ulrok spoke under his breath, "you will get your chance soon enough."

Knowing exactly where they were going, he makes a quick dash towards the right as he put more effort in his sprinting. Less than a minute, he reached a set of twin doors as he presses a small button on his left wrist, the doors opening up to him passing right through the entrance. Ulrok enters the hangar bay where his personal large speeder that he required from Mandalore awaited him, along with three B2 Super Battle Droids standing guard. Working on the speeder was a lone, working B1 Battle Droid, fueling up the speeder for escape.

"The Jedi are right behind me! Shoot the first one that comes through!"

"Roger roger.", the B2 droids replied, loading their wrist blasters as they approached the entrance doors slowly.

Within a full minute, Kydan too entered the hangar bay and took in his surroundings, looking upon the objects and layout of where he was. So focused on the things around him, he was snapped out of his focus as he looked back up to see the two Super Battle Droids approaching him, their wrist blasters loaded and ready to gun him down.

"Oh great, more droids," he sighed in annoyance, raising his blade in a defensive stance. Within seconds, the laser barrage from the droids came down on him, barely having time to deflect the bolts with his lightsaber as they all kept flying towards him. On instinct, he swiftly dodges to the right as some of the incoming shots almost catch him off guard. "Woah!"

Using the advantage that was given to him, Kydan immediately dashes towards the droids, deflecting the laser bolts that kept coming still as he swings his blade sideways, slicing the droids with one swift and precise slice through the middle of their mechanical waists. As the droids fell, he stood upon the broken droids, facing down Ulrok who had watched the entire scene while standing beside the speeder, which was almost ready.

"Now its just you and me, Ulrok," Kydan replied in a dry tone, pointing the end of his purple blade at the mandalorian.

"That remains to be seen, Witress," he replied nonchalantly, very much unfazed of the situation. "But that doesn't mean that I'll just simply surrender to you without a fight.

A big grin formed on his lips, "I was hoping you wouldn't."

Placing his blaster on his back, Ulrok pulls out a metal hilt and activates it as it extends out into a longer metallic blade. The blade looked very old, however seemed to be kept in good shape all this time.

"This blade, out of the many that other Mandalorians, including Jedi, grasped, was taken from your ancient temples in the Outer Rim territories," he explained to the young Jedi. "Since then this sword has been used by us. Many had died upon its blade, and it has been too long since I faced another Jedi, perhaps even the first to face a Witronian. I hope you made your peace with the Force, cause that is where you are going."

"My fate has already been decided, Ulrok, and my fate has told me that I will defeat you, one way or another."

"You say that, Jedi. But it's gonna take more than just words to grant you your wishes. Better to make due with your own actions."

Narrowing his eyes, Kydan dashes towards Ulrok in an attempt to strike him with his lightsaber with a single strike. But Ulrok was quick enough to block his attack with his vibroblade. Ulrok retaliates by swinging his blade at Kydan head front, causing a small clash of blades to commence. A minute passes as Ulrok issues a thrust at Kydan, but he easily sidesteps towards his left as he elbows the mandalorian in the back, causing Ulrok to almost fall flat to the ground. Trying again, Kydan attempts another strike at Ulrok while leaving himself open for an attack, but again fails as Ulrok activates his jetpack, flying into the air and dodging Kydan's attempted attack at the same time.

Ulrok rises into the air as he stares down Kydan from twenty feet off the ground as he laughs at Kydan's expense and futile attempts.

"You are a fool, Witronian!" he laughs down at the Jedi below him. "I have encountered few of your Jedi brethren, and each one of them have fallen before me! What makes you think you can do this on your own?"

"Because he _isn't_ alone!" a voice shouts from behind Ulrok.

Causing Ulrok to slightly gasp underneath his helmet, he turns around and see Rilicia jumping in the air and slices Ulrok's jet pack. He didn't have much tim to react before the slash caused him to fly out of control in the air as he heads straight down, crashing right into the one lonely battle droid who was operating on the main computer.

Groaning from the pain he felt, Ulrok is quickly confronted by Kydan and Rilicia, both of them aiming their sabers directly at them as they glared down at him.

"In the name of the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order, you are under arrest, Ulrok!" Kydan demanded Ulrok.

Taking a moment to take in his utter defeat, Ulrok starts to chuckle in a venomous tone, at first softly and then loudly. This caused both Jedi to become confused by this sudden reaction from the Mandalorian.

"Not today Jedi..." Ulrok shook his head slightly, a menacing grin formed underneath his now cracked helmet. "I may have lost this fight, but I ain't going to your Republic prisons, nor neither will you see the days that come after this..."

They both raise their eyebrows in an much more state of confusion as Ulrok takes the opportunity to reach into his pocket and pull out a small handle activation device.

"Now we shall all die for the glory of the future empire!" Pushing the red button on top, the sounds of explosions are heard, coming from the top floors, including the cargo bay where the rest of Black Moon and White Claw Squads were still in.

"What the-?! What's going on?!" Kydan shouted in utter surprise, feeling the entire shack underneath their feet.

"It's the tower! Ulrok is trying to blow up the tower!" Rilicia replied back, realizing Ulrok's true intentions finally.

"We have to get out of here!"

"It's too late, Jedi! My masters planned this whole entire thing from the beginning, authorized by Nedoura himself! There is no way out! Not even your Jedi powers can save you from this!"

Feeling rage and anger boiling inside once again, he moves his lightsaber and aims it at Ulrok's chest. "You monster! Your destroying the entire tower with all of us in it!"

"Exactly, Witronian. I ain't going into any karabast prison cell for my whole life. I might as well kill all of you with me instead. For the-ACK!" Realizing what happened, Ulrok looked down and saw Kydan's lightsaber stabbed into his chest and heart. Aggressively yanking his saber, Ulrok body goes limp and lifeless.

Rilicia looked at him with wide eyes. "Kydan!"

"There's no time for lectures Rilicia! We have to get-" Before Kydan could finish his sentence, a large explosion appears behind him from the cargo crates and computer, engulfing both him and Rilicia in the chaos of the explosion as everything goes black before their eyes.

 _Time Lapse: Several minutes passes by..._

Kydan slowly awakens, groaning as he felt the pain around his entire body. He tries his best as he focuses on his surroundings before him, finding that he was under fallen debris from the ceiling that had collapsed on him from the explosions. Using what strength he had left, he lifts the debris off himself with the Force as he lifts himself up on the process. He then frantically starts looking around the hangar for Rilicia.

"Rilicia? Rilicia! Where are you!?" As he glances towards where the speeder is, he sees a figure stuck underneath some fallen debris. He could see that the person had blonde hair and Jedi robes on, as well as a bit of blood running down their right arm. He only knew one person that had blonde hair, as his eyes widen in fear. "Rilicia!"

Quickly, he rushes towards her, jumping over the falling debris on the ground as he approaches her. He uses all his strength to pushing the debris off her as he could see her more clearly. His worried became worse as he saw her head and right arm covered in some of her blood, her left leg twisted in a very bad way. He holds her in his arms as he tries to wake her up. "Rilicia!? Can you hear me!? Rilicia!"

Slowly waking up, Rilicia gazes toward who was holding her when she realized who it was. "Ky...Kydan? Is that you?"

"Don't talk, I need to get you out of here and fast! We'll-"

"No, Kydan...not this time..."

He looks down at her with a look of disapproval. "What do you mean 'not this time'? I'm getting you out of here! I'll contact an immediate tran-"

"Kydan, I'm too weak to be moved...the medics...they can't help me..."

"Don't say that! I'm not losing you like my squad! I-I can't lose you yet...not now..."

"I know Kydan..." Weakly and slowly, Rilicia places her hand on Kydan's as a gentle smile crosses her lips. "Kydan... do you...remember what I was...saying earlier, back in the labs?"

"What about it?"

"Before Flash interrupted us, I was...trying to tell you...something important..."

"What?"

"I...wanted to say that I...I-I love you..."

Kydan's eyes widen and his heart skipped a beat. She actually loved him? Rilicia did? He would have never thought that, out of all the other Jedi he knew, that Rilicia would love someone like him, let alone have feelings for him. Because of who he was and what he could do, he always considered himself a danger to everyone around him.

"You...love me?"

Her lips made a small grin, "Surpised?"

Taking the moment to take in what she just said, he takes a deep breath before looking back to her, staring her in the eyes. "Rilicia...I...I love you too. I loved you ever since the day we met in the Jedi Temple all those years ago. I just never thought you would love someone like me."

She weakly giggles in a very soft tone. "Funny... cause your friend there had always known..."

Confused by her reply, he gave her a very confused expression. Who was she talking about? 'Friend?'

"Who do you mean?"

Raising her hand weakly, she points her finger towards to who was in front of her. Still confused, he turns his head around and finds who she was speaking about. There, standing beside Kydan and in front of Rilicia, was a dark figure that stared at her with red rose bud eyes, which could be seen as a concerning look to them. It was no one else but Dark.

"Your friend...that you speak to," she saids as she looks to Dark, "your name is Dark, isn't it?"

Both Kydan and Dark seemed stunned. They didn't know that Rilicia could even see him, let alone hear him! So far, out of the years knowing each other, the only other people that were able to see Dark were the ones who have either study their kind, who were Witronian or even those who have trained to use the power of Dark's species.

 _'How is this possible? Kydan is the only one that should be able to see me.'_

"I actually first seen you... on that day and time when I met Kydan...perhaps it was fate..."

"Rilicia...I..." Not able to finish what he was going to say, tears start to fall from his eyes and roll down his cheeks. He couldn't bear to say it. In fact, he couldn't bear with what was happening at all. He wished this was all a dream. A bad dream.

Understanding why he was crying, Rilicia placed her hand on his cheek and weakly smiled at him. "Do not mourn me Kydan...instead, rejoice for me..."

He wipes off the tears from his eyes and cheeks as he stares her in the eyes. He could see, and sense, the pain and agony inside her. He wishes that his powers weren't the cause of all of this. He couldn't bear to see her like this. It only made things worse than before. "Please...don't go..."

"Kydan...listen to me...I want you...to promise me something..."

"What that?"

"Promise me...that you'll end this war..." she takes a deep breath before continuing on. "And find yourself...a loving family to settle down with...get married...and have children that you'll love more than me. Can you...promise me this at least?"

What she had asked him to do seemed so difficult. How could he love someone else more than her? How would that be possible? On of top of that, it's like she wants him to leave the Order and do all this. He couldn't even think of doing such a thing. But yet, he knew he couldn't let her down. Because he loves her so much, that alone meant that he would keep his promise to her, someway. "...I promise."

Smiling, Rilicia releases her hand from Kydan's cheek as it fell to her side." I will always...be...with...you...Kydan...al...ways..." With one last breath of air and exhaling, she closes her eyes slowly as her body stops moving and no sound of breathing or talking left her mouth.

He could not sense her anymore. He knew that she was gone.

Locking his eyes on her, more tears fell from him, but not without the senses of fear, hate, anger and frustration boiling. All those negative emotions running through his body made him place her body down, stand up from his position, look up and yell out loud across the hangar. Nothing but pure hatred was spoken. NEDOURA! DOOKU! I WILL HUNT YOU! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!

As he yelled, he could still feel and hear the tower crumbling and exploding around him, all at the same time. He looks back down towards her lifeless body, still fueled with anger and pain. Dark could sense his emotions, and he knew they weren't good. _'Kydan, we need to leave now. There's nothing more we can do here.'_

Not saying a word for a few moments, he silently nods to him. "Yeah..".

Carrying her body to the speeder, Kydan places her in the back with her lightsaber cluthed to her chest and jumps into the speeder, powering it up. Before taking off, he looks back tot he hangar, uttering a final farewell to the men that sacrificed their lives for them both. "May the Force be with you all...you all succeeded, along with Rilicia. Mission accomplished..."

Using the Force to open the hangar doors, he punches the speeder to the maximum speed and drives off towards the rest of the Republic forces who had just won against the Droid Army as the tower crumbled into a pile of large debris from a long distance. All that was left was a crumbled rock pile, full of debris and useless material.

* * *

 ** _Planet: Geonosis_**

 ** _Location: Republic Landing Site_**

 ** _Time Lapse: One hour after the destruction of the Geonosian Research Tower_**

* * *

Staring upon what seemed to be a recent buried grave, Kydan stares at a tombstone that was carved with the words;

 _ **'Hear Lies Future Jedi Knight Rilicia Urios, a great Jedi and friend to all.'**_

Many thoughts plagues his mind, everything that had happened over the course of many hours since coming here has left him scarrred and unsure of what was to come next in this war. It would take time for this to settle into him, as well as to clearly ponder on what he will do next. As of now, he was clueless and lost.

So lost in his mind and thoughts, he didn't even hear the sound of a LAAT Gunship from behind land to the ground. A figure walked off the gunship and started to walk towards Kydan. "I'm sorry Kydan...about Rilicia."

He didn't reply back to the Jedi Master beside him as he kept staring at the grave before them.

The figure with long gray hair and facial hair, Coneros Witress, walks up beside him as he stares at Rilicia's grave placing a hand on his nephew's shoulder for any comfort he could give him. "She was an excellent Jedi...and a very good friend too."

"She would've been the best Jedi Knight in the Order."

"Indeed..."

A few moments of silence left between them as they both stared down at her grave. Knowing that it would only hurt even more if they were to stay here any longer, Coneros speaks up. "Kydan...the battle here is over. We must leave this planet and rejoin back on Coruscant. The Council is going to want our reports."

"...Yes, Master."

The older Jedi Master starts to walk back, followed by Kydan before he stops and glances back towards his old friend's grave one last time. This would be the last time he would ever see her again. His first friend...and his first love. "... _Keia su tong_ Rilicia... rest peacefully within the Force." With one last glance, he turns back towards the gunship and walks away, leaving his friend to rest peacefully.

As the gunship, carrying both Kydan, Coneros and a handful of clones, leaves into the atmosphere, a dark figure with black armor and robes watches them fly away from the area of Rilicia's grave. He keeps watching the gunship til' it was no longer in sight.

"So you've finally grown, huh?" Removing his hood, Nedoura walks up towards a sand rock formation as he turns his attention towards Rilicia's grave, including the large portion of graves that were owned by several other fallen Jedi and Clone Troopers. A vicious grin forms on his lips. "Too bad you couldn't save her. It seems that your own powers are not yet strong enough, as I had previously thought. But there is still time. Perhaps once you have grown a bit older and stronger, we shall see if you are worthy to face me...just like your father had."

As the last words escape from his mouth, he starts to laugh and then more menacingly, the sound of his laughter being heard throughout the dunes of the desert and rocky world of Geonosis. For today was the mark of the Clone Wars, and the beginning of a much larger future that awaited them all.


	5. Chapter 5: Hidden Deceptions

**Greetings ladies and gents' and welcome back to another exciting(?) chapter of _Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rise of the Dark Mercenary_ series! **

**To start off, I do have to be honest with you all, I think this was probably by far one of the most interesting chapters I've wanted to write. After watching a few movies and anime shows over the years, this idea had somehow popped into my head earlier on. I really can't say that this was good or not, so I'll leave that to all of you to let me know in the reviews.**

 **Pushing that aside, we do greatly hope you all enjoyed yet another chapter of the Star Wars series. It has been amazing coming back and finishing this at last. However, we do have a long way to go before this season/era concludes, so much more to come. Anyways, thank you all for your countless support on this series, and if you did enjoy this, click that fave and/or follow button afterwards. Your guy's support is what makes us continue this series and that makes us want to keep doing this even more. And as always, have a fan-tucking-tastic day/night! See ya' in the next one!**

 **\- Director K.W.**

* * *

 _ **Year: 21.9 BBY**_

 _ **Planet: Coruscant**_

 _ **Location: Republic Shipyards, Acclamator Cruiser**_ **Ademption**

 _ **Time Lapse: One month after the Battle of Geonosis**_

* * *

 _ **'Its been one whole month now since the Battle of Geonosis, and after the death of Rilicia Urios. Lately, I've been thinking about this war, about my friends dying... and especially about the Jedi Order. I keep telling myself that the only way to win this war is by surviving and doing what's necessary to accomplish that goal. But the Jedi themselves are peacekeepers, not warriors that the galaxy sees us to be. I'm still not sure if I can do that nor keep myself of being a warrior for battle. As a Witronian, we are warriors who protect more than we are at keeping the peace. Sadly, I can't worry about this. Not now anyway. Lately, the Republic is already having trouble keeping hold of some Republic systems from the Separatist Alliance. We've been hot on their tail for a while now, but we haven't been able to find a way to retaliate back with the forces that we now have.'**_

 _ **'However, that's all about to change. Recently, Republic Intelligence indicated that the planet, Taris, is no longer heavily guarded by Separatist control and the people are retaliating against them, giving us the advantage. So, within half an hour's time, there's to be a private meeting being held in the temporary barracks on-board the Ademption, being held by a man named Lieutenant Higer Atwon, who will be leading this assault on the planet.'**_

 _ **'But, the problem with this meeting though is that there's not a single Jedi involved with this. The worst part...the Jedi Council don't even know about this meeting. Which means, these men, these clones, are building their own private army, and I'm caught up in the middle of it. I've heard the rumors of clones turning against the Jedi because of our own actions and viewpoints, but I think it was complete nonsense. Yet, I shouldn't be too surprised. I have already seen things happening to me more than once. So, to put it simply, I actually believe those rumors to be true. And since the clones have their own sense of free will to express, it makes it even more plain to see. I'm gonna find out what they're planning without the Council's knowledge, and see exactly what is all really going on here.'**_

* * *

 **Kydan stared and watched as the Clone Troopers of the Galactic Republic began their construction on their military homes on Coruscant, the working soldiers and droids operating in a professional and quick manner. Its only been an entire month since the beginning of the Clone Wars began, and the Republic's first victory on Geonosis and and a small raid on Hissrich. With the current situation of losing system after system, the Republic's Grand Army have little grounds to establish long term homes during the war. That being said, it was approved by both the Senate and Chancellor Palpatine to allow a large military presence on the Republic's home capital.**

 **Honestly, it was quite the sight to see for Kydan. Having always been isolated and cooped up inside the Jedi Temple for years, he has never seen how things operated from outside the confines of his own home. He couldn't stop himself from having a small grin of satisfaction as he watched the men and droids working side by side. It was like a dream to him.**

 **"Beep bleep bwoop."**

 **Blinking his eyes from mesmerizing, he looked down to his droid counterpart that stood beside him. Just like the other models for pilots and Jedi, his droid was a grayish R2 unit, stripped with gold coloring. Although, being as it may, he didn't refer his small friend as a R2 unit, due to the droid being as old as himself, especially before his own father's time. Quite the unique droid, for sure.**

 **"Sorry R7," he apologized with a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his head that was covered with long brown robes, concealing almost his entire body. "Guess I was drooling a bit too much, huh?"**

 **"Bweep boop," R7-D7 replied in agreement, shaking its large robotic head at the same time.**

 **Kydan just smiled at his droid friend. He was so glad that he had someone else with him on this. Because he was doing something out of the authorization of the council, and from his uncle's wishes, he needed to sneak into this meeting with a different appearance than that of a Jedi. Rather than wearing his traditional brown and gray robes, he had swapped it out and replaced it with metal plating that used to overlap the gray, now black, clothing. His pants were different, fitted with black pants and protected with the same material as his upper torso. He felt completely different when wearing this new set of clothing. He didn't feel like a Jedi anymore, more like a mercenary for hire. For some reason, it felt pretty good too him.**

 **"Come on bud, let's get going," he said to his partner walking down the ramp and to the entrance of the Acclamator-Class Cruiser, R7 closely following behind him. When they entered the ship, he immediately started getting a sense of deja vu, reminding him of the ship he had been on a month ago. The same ship where his old team and friend were on too. Thinking about it again made his heart swell with sadness once more, remembering again everything that had happened.**

 **He shook his head slightly, forcing himself to not contemplate on the past again. He needed to be strong for them all, not keep mourning them every single day of his life. He made a promise to Rilciia before she past, and he intended on keeping it. He needed to win this war. For everyone in the galaxy.**

 **Walking down the hallways of the ship where multiple engineers, officer and soldiers were out and about, busy with their own work. The meeting was being held in the main hangar bay, where a majority of both clones and hired guns will all be gathered at. As far as he knew, they would keep security tight considering all that has happened. Which seemed to be the case as Kydan and R7 saw two clones acting as security, guarding the entrance doors that led to the private meeting in the hangar.**

 **They approach the two guards when the clone on the left raised his hand at them, halting them in their tracks. "Hold it right there, stranger. Where are you and droid going?"**

 **"My droid and I were invited by your commanding officer about some kind of meeting," Kydan lied to the soldier, changing his voice at the same time.**

 **"If that's the case, we'll need some identification to confirm your statement," the clone replied, extending his hand out to him. "You do have it, don't you?"**

 **"Certainly, trooper," Kydan said, taking a small chip from R7 and handing it over to the trooper. He was relieved that they weren't too suspicious that he was wearing Jedi robes. Earlier on, he had seen some men and woman wearing cloaks that he could have mistaken them as Jedi. Plus, changing his look seemed to help quite a lot.**

 **The clone that was checking his identification hums in a contemplating voice. "Hmm...well, everything seems to be in order. All signatures verified, date of birth, species...alright, you seem to be cleared to enter.. Go on in, Mr. Kedone."**

 **"Many thanks, fellow soldier," he replied back with a salute, as the doors opened to them allowing access to the hangar. He and R7 walked through as the doors closed behind them. A small smirk formed on his lips as he looked down to his partner. "Great job on making those false identifications, R7."**

 **"Bwoop beep beep," the droid replied with a grateful tone. Even though R7 was just an astromech, he had it's uses for situations like these ones, which made Kydan grateful also to have.**

 **As they approached the area where the meeting was to be, he saw a large, stadium-like area filled with seats that many were filled with clones, as well as bounty hunters, smugglers, mercenaries, you name it. Many of them were all sitting down in their perspective seats waiting patiently for the meeting to begin. On the ground floor, an officer with blonde and little gray hair who wasn't a clone, yet wearing clone armor, was speaking to a couple of clones that also wore the same orange pattern armor that he was. The officer was Higer Atwon, commanding officer of this meeting.**

 **Kydan and R7 both walked and rolled up to the top benches of the large stadium they were in, looking about as they saw the many soldiers and hired gunmen making conversation with one another. Just as he reached the top benches, Higer approached the middle as he took a deep breath and spoke out loud. "Attention, everyone! Attention! I would like everyone to take their seats so that we can begin the meeting!"**

 **Everyone, including Kydan, took their respective seats, R7 standing beside his master. Higer waited patiently as he watched the brave and courageous soldiers among him sit down, a small satisfied smirk formed on his lips.**

 **Clearing his throat, Higer began to speak. "Greetings everyone! My name is Higer Atwon, commanding officer of the 12th Airborne Battalion in the Grand Army of the Republic Army. As you all may know, the Galactic Republic is continuing to take back key worlds that are now under the 'protection' of the Separatist Alliance," he emphasized with his fingers. "Many of own soldiers and Jedi Generals are, at this moment, trying to retaliate against them, but with the Droid Army overwhelming us, they are almost untouchable.'**

 **'Now many of you are probably thinking,'what does this mean for us? How does this correspond with us being here?' Well, allow me to explain; you are all here because you want the Separatist gone. You are here to do what the Jedi simply cannot do which forbids them because of their Jedi Code. You're here to show the Jedi that they need to take drastic measures to ensure the safety, protection and freedom of the Galactic Republic."**

 **"The Jedi don't do what is necessary!" a bounty hunter shouted out.**

 **"They are losing because they cannot do what needs to be done!" another voice called out.**

 **"The Jedi need to take action upon themselves!" a clone in front of Kydan agreed, raising his arm in a protest.**

 **"These are all good points, and that is why I have asked you all here," Higer replied to them all, assuring every single soldier in the hangar. "So let's get down to business. Republic Intelligence reported that the once long-ago, beautiful planet of Taris is no longer heavily occupied by the Separatist. Apparently, they have moved their heavy forces to the planets of Alzoc III and Christophsis. Which means that Taris is only protected by a normal sized fleet and a small legion of droids on the surface. Also, the people of Taris are now beginning to rebel, giving us a better advantage. The Jedi do not know of this yet, and if we were to ask for their help, then the victory we all look upon will disappear."**

 **Higer continued on. "That is why I have asked you all here; from bounty hunters to smugglers, from mercenaries to Clone Troopers, to do what the Jedi Prder simply cannot do. I am asking each and every one of you to risk your lives and help retake the planet and all other key Republic systems. So, if any of you wish to back out now, I completely understand. We will not force you to fight with us."**

 **The crowd then begins to look around them, carefully watching to see if anyone is willing to leave and back down from all of this. But yet, not a single person stood and left. It appeared that everyone was on-board with all this. At that moment, the crowd began to cheer, applaud and whistle at Higer for his performance. From the top, Kydan was taken back a little bit, but nonetheless, gave off a small smirk of interest and approval.**

 _ **Well would you look at that...the l**_ _ **ieutenant**_ _ **got all their attentions,**_ **Kydan thought to himself, admiring the officer with much respect.** _ **Well played, Higer.**_

 **"Alright everyone, settle down please. I am grateful that all of you are willing to help. Myself and the whole Galactic Republic thank you for your courageous heroism. Now, before we go any further, each and every one of you have a data pad underneath your seats. I advise everyone to pick one up and quickly register their identifications. I will give you all a minute to do so."**

 **Each and every single man and woman picked up the data pads that were underneath their seats and began to punch in their identities within the database. Once they finished, Higer instructed further, "Now that you are all registered, and due to the amount of men and women here, I want each and every one of you to pick and choose your partners for this mission."**

 **Kydan blinked a couple of times before his eyes widen in surprise. "Wait...what?!"**

 **"The reason for this is that the plan needs to have at least a group of two or more in each team, followed by a five man squad of clones who are willing to follow their orders. So, once you all have completed this task and have shared information with another. we will continue on. When you finish, register your teams into the database. You have three minutes to comply to this act."**

 **Kydan slapped his forehead in annoyance. "Oh great, everyone else is gonna be in a group, and yet I don't have a single partner."**

 **"Bwoop boop?" R7 questioned his master in a sincere and worried tone.**

 **"Thanks pal, but I'll need someone who isn't a droid. No offense, though."**

 **"Beep beep," it replied back, not at all taking it offensively by his master's comment.**

 **"Well, we better look for someone fast," a voice said to the young Jedi, appearing in his black human shape form. He crossed his arms as he looked down at his friend. "Otherwise, this undercover mission is gonna end pretty quick."**

 **Kydan narrowed his eyes at him. "Thanks for the encouragements, Dark..."**

 **Frantically looking around the entire room, from the right side of him, he saw a woman in black robes, who appeared to be his age. Underneath her robes, she was wearing more black garments that could almost identify her as a Jedi too. She was all alone by the looks of it. He wondered if she was on her own, just like him. "Wonder if she's in a group?"**

" **Can't hurt to ask."**

" **Point taken."**

 **Standing up from his spot, he casually walks over to her as she paid no attention to his approach as she stared directly at the entire crowd in front of her.**

" **Have you been left out too?"**

 **Taking a little off guard, she looks up to see Kydan asking her that question. His expression was that of curiosity. "Yeah...on my own pretty much."**

" **Well, since we're the only ones without a partner or team, would you like to partner up with me?" Confused, the woman gives him an odd expression.**

" **I mean, its for just the mission, and I don't see anyone else without a team. Besides, it'll only be for the one time."**

 **Pondering over the idea for a moment, she nods in agreement as she hands him her data pad with a little bit of information. Handing over his data pad too, she takes it and scans through it. When she saw his name and face on it, her eyes squinted a bit before they widen a little.**

 _ **Wait, is this...?**_ **She thought to herself, unsure of her answer.** _ **What's he doing here of all places? Where's his master?**_

 **Now even more curious as to what is going on, she presses the 'approval' button. At the same time, Kydan was reading her bio' on her data pad, his own curiosity growing more.** _ **Hmm...Calena Irune...**_

 **Higer clapped his hands together to gain everyone's attention once again as he continued on. "Ok everyone! Now that thats settled, lets move. Now all you have-"**

" **Hold on a second!" a voice cried out from the top of the benches. As the crowd looks behind them, they see a clone sergeant walking down the steps to Higer. He reached the l** **ieutenant** **and stood beside him as the crowd was eager to hear what this clone had to say, considering he had interrupted Higer's speech. "I have something to say before we continue this meeting!"**

" **Then speak your words, sergeant."**

" **With pleasure, sir. My name is Sergeant Throte. Many of you know who I am, for I was part of the Battle of Geonosis that took place one month ago. As clones, we all have to have a Jedi among the soldiers, correct? Well, Jedi are the protectors of the Republic right? They protect living life forms, all humans and species alike, as well as being self-sacrificing for they care only for others. Am I right?"**

 **Taking in Throte's words, the crowd murmured to one another, pondering over his words carefully.**

" **I thought so. Well if the Jedi are protectors as they say they are, then how come several thousands of clones died on Geonosis, including the four thousand within the past month? How come they are dead and a majority of Jedi are still alive!?**

 **At that moment, the crowd begin to nod and agree with the sergeant's argument.**

" **I say that the Jedi only care for themselves instead of others! They say they protect us in battle, yet, many of us clones have died under the Jedi's commands/ And still they get to live while most of us are dead or just barely still breathing! I lost my entire platoon of brothers under one of the Jedi's commands during the Battle of Abridon a week ago, and out of all of that, I was but the only survivor of the entire platoon!"**

" **In fact, I don't doubt that the Jedi will justify against these accusations. As a matter of fact, there's probably a Jedi among us right now! If that's the case, I say they should come forth, apologize for what they have done to us and should share with us everything they have to win this war. Otherwise, we clones can no longer trust the Jedi, nor their little Jedi Order anymore! Heck, they shouldn't even be leading us nor the Galactic Republic in the first place!"**

 **The crowd looked around them for any suspicious Jedi among them, which makes Kydan feel uneasy. He had read some of the reports, and many of those were blaming the Jedi Order for these actions. Even though it was not the Jedi's fault, he couldn't help but feel guilty. He thought personally that it would be best to speak out that he was a Jedi and apologize to them all. After what happened at the research towers with his squadron and friend, it would make sense. Maybe even a bit of peace, if he was being honest.**

 **But before he could even make a move, another voice spoke out, the sound of a deep ascent reaching everyone's ears. "Are the Jedi really responsible?"**

 **Coming down from the stands, a middle-aged man wearing some kind of smuggler's outfit, walked down the stairs and stood in front of Throte. He was only a little taller than him, but not too tall to look up at, considering he was a bit build up for normal size. His hair was short black, along with long black side burns on each side.**

 **The sergeant narrowed his eyes at the smuggler who stood before him. "What did you say!?"**

" **I said is the Jedi really responsible? Can you prove to us all that they're responsible? Where's your proof?"**

" **Proof? Look around you! There's not a lot of our brethren left here! There was thousands of us that walked among the Republic just a month ago. But now, because of the Jedi, most of us are dead for that matter! To them, we are just bantha fodder for them!"**

" **Is that so? Well, Throte, let me ask you something..." Reaching to his belt, he pulls out a small rounded device. "Do you have one of these devices?"**

" **Of course I do! Everyone in the Republic Army has one, especially us officers!"**

" **Then you should know that the Jedi are doing everything they can in this war to save lives. And that includes the Clone Army."**

 **He was taken back by the smuggler's words, hesitation rising in him. "W-Well, yeah...but-"**

 **The smuggler looked towards the crowd around them both as he began to address to them all. "Everyone! Inside these are the archives of the Galactic Republic Army, and in them is a large amount of basic and combat simulations that show how the Jedi operate in battle. Within it will show why the Jedi can only do what they can, and why Clone Troopers are dying on the front lines. Its not the Jedi's fault for the brave men that have died. Rather, they should know that the Jedi protect them in every way they can, but they can't protect them forever."**

" **They are imperfect humans and aliens, just like the rest of us. That's why the clones, men and women must know how to fight on their own, regardless of the situations. Under the command of the Jedi or not, they must do what they can for themselves...even if they die trying."**

 **The smuggler looked back at Throte,, saying, "am I wrong, Sergeant Throte?"**

 **Throte responds only under his breath, which only the man in front of him can hear. "Not, you are not..." Still mumbling to himself, Throte takes a seat in the front, crossing his arms in defeat.**

 **The smuggler looks to Higer with a small apologetic tone. "Higer, you may continue."**

" **Thank you, Egole. He is right, everyone. On these devices, there are even lists of planets that the Republic has on the Separatist. Everytime intelligence reports in, It will list many key planets that they control, as well as a bit of information of the leaders who are in charge of each system. So inside your data pads, it will show you the details on Taris."**

" **It reports that Taris has little forces in the system and has little defenses to use. Their leader is a Force sensitive assassin named Gualo Rotinth. He wields a single-handed red lightsaber and uses different attack patterns. Mostly he uses guerilla warfare, so he and his forces should be but easy picking."**

 **Higer places his pad away as he claps his hands together one last time, regaining everyone's attention once again. "Alright! This meeting is over! I have listed each and everyone of you with the entire plans for your groups, so I want each and every one of you to go over it by tomorrow morning. We will be leaving for Taris at o'ten hundred hours. You are all dismissed!"**

* * *

 _ **Planet: Coruscant**_

 _ **Location: Acclamator-Class Cruiser, Ademption, Mess Hall**_

 _ **Time Lapse: Few hours after meeting was adjourned**_

* * *

 **In the very populated mess hall area, the cafeteria was overwhelmed with a vast majority of clones, men and women who had all chosen to partake in the battle tomorrow. At first glance, you could see that each one were talking about either the Clone Wars, their daily lives, or the battle that was coming. In the back of the mess, the black robed stranger, Calena, had sat on one of the benches alone, eating one of the food rations that was being passed out in the cafeteria as part of everyone's dinner. This was mostly due to saving the costs on regular food and to allow Republic citizens to be able to have food on their tables, considering that the war has not been kind to anyone in the galaxy.**

 **As she made a small nimble on the tasteless food in her hands, she heard a voice from her right side. "So this where you wondered off to..."**

 **Recognizing the voice, she turns her head and saw Kydan standing beside her with his own food at hand. She could sense the calmness within the young Jedi, much to her surprise considering that she has heard of who he was from rumors from other Jedi and Masters. The way they described him was uneasy, treating him as though he was some sort of monster. She felt bad for him, and didn't understand why that was the case.**

" **Mind if I sit next to you?" He ushered to the other seat next to her. Nodding, she scoots over to the side a bit as Kydan takes a sit beside her. Not a word escape between them afterwards for a few, until Kydan thought it would be best to break the ice between them. "You know, that ration would probably taste better if you put some of this on it."**

 **Looking over, Calena saw him pull out a small transparent jar from his cloak, placing the jar between them in a jesture of offer. Cautiously, she pulls out a stick from the jar as she saw what was on it. "Cream?"**

" **Believe me, it's much better than just eating it plain like that. I should know."**

 **Still being cautious, she takes a bit of it out and spreads it on her ration, taking a small bite out of it. Thinking that it was some kind of trick or something from the young man at first, she was surprised by the taste of it. In a mere force of habit, she quickly eats the entire ration. Kydan just watches her devour it all, not a laugh or shocking expression was seen or heard from him. Rather, he seemed to be contemplating.**

" **So...Calena, wasn't it? Exactly why are you here?" He asks her, not looking to her as he stares at his half eaten ration.**

" **What do you mean?" She asks curiously.**

" **Well obviously, for starters, your no bounty hunter or smuggler. Definitely not a clone soldier, considering your a girl. At first, I thought possibly a mercenary of some sorts, but when I sensed something in you, it kinda made more sense to me."**

 **Calena stares at him for a brief moment. Not just because of what he just said about her not being a clone or anything, but what he was getting at.**

" **Your form and style of clothing represent that of a Jedi. Yet, I don't remember seeing you in the Jedi Temple. Then again, I never really had the opportunity to meet anyone really when I was being taught. So whats your story? Why're you here?"**

 **Calena doesn't respond right away. Instead, she takes a few moments to collect herself before speaking to him, choosing her words correctly. "Because...I don't want to change."**

 **That caught Kydan off guard. "Change? What do you mean?" He didn't fully understand what she meant by that statement.**

" **Well...take a look around you. Already within a month, the Jedi Order has become commanders and generals of war, not keepers of the peace. It's as if we have already lost our way the moment this war began. On top of that, the clones have already begun disapproving the Jedi about us being their commanding officers. Even the Republic itself is deciding whether or not the Jedi should help defend the Republic against the Separatist Alliance. It's like a loop of chaos over and over again."**

" **I guess...I never seen it that way..." he replied in a sincere tone, not even giving any of that a small thought before.**

" **I want to be a Jedi Knight badly," she continued on. "It's been my dream ever since I was a small girl! But if it means to give up everything I know just to make a little change in my life, like being a officer of war, then I would rather die in the confines of the temple rather than die trying to change who I really am; a Jedi."**

 **Taking a moment to let her finish, he finishes his ration before replying, "you don't have to change if you don't want to..."**

 **Calena looks at him, both with a look of surprise and confusion at the same time.**

" **You have a choice of changing who you want to become. But in all cases, whether you do it or not...your still you. No matter if your fighting a war or protecting others. It wouldn't matter if you were a Jedi Master or a Sith Lord for** _ **chihura**_ **sakes. My father told me that whatever or whoever you try to be or do, it won't matter. What matters is that your still you, and that you should always feel overjoyed about it, not try to change it in another perspective."**

 **She just stared at him a bit wide eyed. Out of all those words he shared with her, she really thought about it carefully. In any event, he really was right. Each of those words had true meaning to them, and truly showed her the light side of everything. That alone gave her the encouragement she needed. She smirked softly, trying hard not to smile.**

" **However, I don't want to watch you die on my watch. I've already lost a lot of my friends because of this war, and I don't need to lose anyone else in this fight, let alone another fellow Jedi. So, just promise me that...you won't let yourself get shot out there, okay?"**

 **With the small smirk still plastered on her face, she nods in agreement to her new partner. She didn't know why, but something about him gave her a warmth of comfort and trust. And frantically, she isn't the kind of Jedi who can easily trust just anyone. She had a feeling that this battle will change everything, even tip the tide of the war. And boy was she right.**


End file.
